Sunday, November 18, 2012

Wales at Water’s Edge

The book opens at the south eastern corner of the Wales Coast Path and finishes 870 miles later in the mouth of the Dee. But of course you can start wherever you like in any of the ten segments.

Photograph seems such a mechanical word for the fantastic images captured or created by Jeremy Moore; a diverse range of subjects sometimes from an unusual angle. Lots of natural beauty as you’d expect and ugly things portrayed with panache.

The words by Jon Gower are personal, such as his timely good deed of alerting British Rail to a breached sea wall, thereby averting a disaster, and in reward for which he received The Collins Guide to British Birds. Some words are not obvious ....‘this wondrous coast is a place to walk, prog or beachcomb....’? According to the freedictionary.com, to prog is to prowl about for food or plunder. Or did he mean to say jog?

Alliteration abounds with the coast described as ‘crinkled, crimped, crenellated and corrugated’ – I suspect he wanted to go on to say ‘caravanned’ but instead continued with ‘.... holidaymakered and lighthoused, dolphin-blessed, wind-sculpted and always wave-surrounded.’

There’s humour, interesting titbits and pictures to inspire – it’s a catalyst to get you out walking or as close as you can get to being an acceptable armchair alternative to the real thing. I’ll be putting it on my Christmas list.